2016 Miller Award

The AAG is pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s AAG E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Award is Professor Mei-Po Kwan from the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This award recognizes members of the Association who have made truly outstanding contributions to the geographic field due to their special competence in teaching or research.

Kwan is one of the most distinguished and influential scholars in the discipline of geography today. Her broad research interests span environmental health, sustainable cities, human mobility, urban/social issues in cities, and GIScience, and she has made ground-breaking contributions to the discipline of geography in each of these areas.

One of the defining characteristics of her research is that it transcends and eschews boundaries and divides, both within our discipline and between geography and other disciplines.

Kwan is a highly productive scholar, having edited or co-edited 31 volumes (including two encyclopedias, five books and 24 journal special issues) and published over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Her publications on time-activity analysis, feminist geovisualization, hybrid geographies, and the uncertain geographic context problem are among the most widely cited papers within the disciplines of human geography and GIScience.

She is internationally renowned for her work and has delivered approximately 170 keynote addresses and invited lectures in 18 countries. These presentations were given at major international conferences and in schools and departments of many different disciplines.

Kwan has received major research grants from sources including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Kwan’s record of research accomplishment, impact, and contribution, both within the discipline of geography and beyond, makes her a most outstanding and deserving winner of the Miller Award.

Funding for the award comes from the estate of Ruby and Will Miller. Will started the Geography Department at Pennsylvania State University while Ruby became the maps librarian, developing the collection and teaching classes on the use of maps. After retirement they co-authored more than 20 books and continued to travel around the world. Will was also founder of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society and played important leadership roles in the American Association of Geographers, American Geographical Society, and the National Council for Geographic Education.

About AAG

The American Association of Geographers is global network of leading researchers, educators, and practitioners in geography. Founded in 1904, its growing membership shares interests in the theory, methods, and practice of geography, and its role in helping create a better world. Visit www.aag.org for more information.